06 July 2024 :

Three Swedish citizens have been sentenced to death in Iraq over their involvement in a shooting and a fourth may also face the same punishment over a separate crime, the Swedish foreign ministry said on July 4, 2024.
The government summoned Iraq's charge d'affaires last month to protest the death sentence against one of the three involved in the shooting.
Sweden does not have the death penalty and opposes its use in all circumstances.
The foreign ministry said it had now received confirmation that two more Swedes have been convicted in relation to the same crime, and received the death penalty.
"The information we have received on the death penalties is extremely serious and we are working to ensure the sentences will not be carried out," the foreign ministry said in an emailed statement.
In June, the Daily Aftonbladet reported that the men had been involved in the shooting of another Swedish citizen in Iraq in January.
The ministry said it had received a report that a fourth Swede was given a death sentence for a different, drug-related crime, but that it could not confirm the information.

03 July 2024 :

Another Swedish citizen has been sentenced to death in Iraq by a court decision, Report News Agency informed on July 2, 2024 referring to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper citing the press service of the Swedish Foreign Ministry.
"The Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, which has now moved to Stockholm, has received confirmation from local authorities that a second Swedish national has been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court of first instance," reads the statement.
The verdict to the first subject became known in June.

18 June 2024 :

Sweden's Foreign Ministry said officials summoned the Iraqi chargé d’affaires on June 14, 2024 to protest against death sentences handed down to Swedes in Iraq.
Swedish media reported in recent days that two Swedes have been sentenced to death in Iraq after being convicted of killing a member of criminal gang there. On June 14, Sweden's news agency TT cited the foreign ministry in Stockholm's confirmation that at least one person with a Swedish passport has received a death sentence.
“We condemn the use of the death penalty. We oppose it always, everywhere and regardless of the circumstances,” Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in a statement.
He said officials conveyed Sweden's protests at the meeting and demanded that the sentences not be enforced.
TT reported that another two Swedes have been detained for alleged involvement in the murder of a criminal in Iraq.
The killing earlier this year is believed to be linked to an internal gang war between two Swedish groups that has resulted in numerous killings and attempted murders, some occurring outside Sweden. The Foxtrot network and its rival, Rumba, have for years been involved in deadly feuds.
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years and criminal gangs often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits. Swedish police recorded 109 shootings so far this year, including 14 fatal shootings. Last year, 53 people were killed and 109 were wounded in a total of 363 shootings.

08 October 2024 :

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court has sentenced three drug traffickers to death for their involvement in the trafficking of narcotic substances, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on October 6, 2024.
According to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council Media Center received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), “The first convict was apprehended with 111 kilograms of narcotic amphetamine, while the other two were found in possession of narcotics intended for trafficking and distribution among users.”
The statement further clarified that “the sentences were issued in accordance with the provisions of Article 27/1 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law No. 50 of 2017, along with evidence from Articles 47, 48, and 49 of the Penal Code.”

11 June 2024 :

An Iraqi court has sentenced seven individuals to death for drug trafficking, including one foreign national. The Central Criminal Court’s decision, announced on June 9, 2024 by the Supreme Judicial Council, did not disclose the nationality of the foreigner involved.
The convicts were found guilty of importing and exporting narcotic substances from neighboring countries.
In May 2023, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani emphasized the critical need to tackle the drug trade, linking it to the financing of terrorism. Al-Sudani said drug dealing thrived in areas plagued by terrorist activities, complicating efforts to maintain security and public health.

20 May 2024 :

Nearly 100 individuals – both Iraqi citizens and foreign nationals – were sentenced to death or life imprisonment on drug trafficking charges between 2023 and 2024, a spokesperson to the Interior Ministry said on May 15, 2024.
In a press conference held in Baghdad on May 15, Brigadier General Mokdad Meri described drug trafficking as a "critical threat" to Iraq's national security, vowing that authorities would maintain "high pressure" on drug networks.
Meri highlighted recent successes in the crackdown, including the seizure of 8 kilograms of narcotics and 200,000 psychoactive pills within a single week. "These operations resulted in the apprehension of 123 suspects," he said.
Iraq's drug problem has reached critical levels. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the country has become a major transit route for illegal drugs, particularly Captagon, a stimulant amphetamine. This lucrative trade fuels organized crime and terrorist networks, posing a significant threat to regional stability.
In a 2021 report, the UNODC highlighted the alarming rise of crystal meth in Iraq, warning that it is now manufactured domestically in southern border governorates.
In December 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani made a controversial statement urging the president of the country to ratify all death sentences for convicted drug traffickers.
He said this is necessary to "implement the law and be a deterrent to anyone who dares to threaten the security of the country and its people."
Between 2019 and 2022, over 43,000 individuals have been apprehended on drug-related charges. In December 2022, the Supreme Judicial Council announced that approximately six tons of drugs stored in the Forensic Medicine Department were destroyed.
Some in Iraq have directly linked the high unemployment rate among youth to increased addiction. For instance, the Basra police department said that 97% of drug users arrested in 2018 were unemployed, and two-thirds were 25 or younger; the Basra appellate court reported that 90% of those arrested for drug use around the same time were unemployed. Unfortunately, there are no reliable official numbers, but statements by officials indicate that the drug problem is very acute in some cities; for example, the governor of Diwaniyah stated that the rate of drug abuse by youth had reached 40%, according to some estimates by non-governmental organizations.
Compounding the issue are the shortcomings of Iraq's legal framework. While the 2017 Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act prescribes the death penalty for certain drug offenses, its implementation has been inconsistent.
Human rights organizations raised concerns about the potential for arbitrary application of the law, particularly in a country with a fragile human rights record. They argue that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent and fails to address the root causes of drug abuse, such as poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to treatment.

15 May 2024 :

A Baghdad court on May 13, 2024 handed a death sentence for a drug dealer of foreign nationality accused of bringing narcotics into the country, state media reported. 
“The convict brought narcotic substances into Iraq for the purpose of trafficking them and selling them among drug users,” state media said, citing a statement by Baghdad’s Karkh Criminal Court. 
The verdict was issued in accordance with Article 27 of the Iraqi Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law. 
The Article states that any suspect charged with exporting, importing, producing, or planting narcotic substances “with the intent of trading it” shall be sentenced to either death of life imprisonment. 
There has been an alarming rise in drug dealing and use in Iraq in recent years, despite strict measures taken by the government to curb the phenomenon.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat drugs with the same determination as it fights terrorism.
In 2023, more than 19,000 people were arrested across Iraq on drug-related charges and over 15 tons of psychotropic substances were seized.

15 April 2024 :

An Iraqi court on April 14, 2024 issued death sentences to six drug dealers, including three foreigners.
"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict to execute six drug dealers who were convicted of trafficking narcotic substances," a statement by the media office of the Supreme Judicial Council said, without specifying the nationalities of the three foreigners.
The statement said that four of the convicts, including a foreigner, worked within an international network to promote marijuana and were found in possession of 2.8 kg.
The other two convicted foreigners were found in possession of 10 kg of opium and various narcotic substances, the statement added.
In May 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani underlined the importance of waging "a war on drugs," saying that drug dealing remains one of the main ways of financing terrorism, and the circulation of drugs flourishes in the shadow of terrorism.

11 March 2024 :

An Iraqi court on February 27, 2024 handed down death sentences to five drug dealers, including three foreigners.
"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict to execute five drug dealers who were convicted of trafficking the narcotic Captagon pills," a statement by the media office of the Supreme Judicial Council said, without specifying the nationalities of the three foreigners.
The statement added that the convicts were transporting narcotic drugs from the central province of Najaf to the southern province of Muthanna before smuggling them to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Narcotics Affairs of the Interior Ministry said in a separate statement that the anti-narcotics forces seized 80 kg of narcotic Captagon pills in Iraq's western province of Anbar.
The narcotic drugs were found buried underground after an investigation involving four drug dealers who were arrested by the anti-narcotic forces in the province, the statement added.
The chaos and conflicts that have engulfed the country since the U.S. invasion in 2003 have impeded successive Iraqi governments from effectively addressing the threat of drugs.
In May 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani underlined the importance of waging "a war on drugs," saying drug dealing remains one of the main ways of financing terrorism, and the circulation of drugs flourishes in the shadow of terrorism.

18 November 2024 :

An Iraqi court on November 17, 2024 sentenced a man to death for his involvement in the bombing of electrical power towers in a rural area of Baghdad province.
In a statement, Al-Karkh Criminal Court announced, "A death sentence was issued against a terrorist criminal affiliated with the ISIS organization, who detonated electrical power towers in Tel al-Baroud in al-Abayichi."
The court explained that the convict had detonated an explosive device in 2015 with terrorist intent. The attack also targeted an Iraqi army patrol, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers and injuries to three others.
The ruling was issued under Article 4(1), in conjunction with Articles 2(5) and (7) of Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005.

30 October 2024 :

The Saladin Criminal Court on October 28, 2024 issued three sentences against a "terrorist" affiliated with ISIS, including two death sentences and one life imprisonment.
According to the media center of the Supreme Judicial Council, the "terrorist participated in operations targeting security forces in Samarra and was involved in the kidnapping of a citizen in the Al-Hawija al-Bahriya area, in addition to concealing the kidnapping of another citizen and shielding these gangs in the Al-Duloiya district for terrorist motives in 2014."
The first sentence was issued based on the provisions of Article 2, and in conjunction with Article 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005.
The second sentence was issued based on Article 2, Sections 1, 3, and 8, and in conjunction with Article 4, Section 1, while the third sentence was issued following Article 4, Section 2 of the same law.
In related news, the Baghdad Operations Command announced the arrest of 13 suspects, including an ISIS terrorist and others violating residency regulations in the Rusafa side of the city.
In a statement, the command reported, "The first Federal Police Division, with the support of intelligence agencies, managed to arrest 13 suspects, including an ISIS terrorist wanted under Article 1, Section 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, after monitoring his movements in the Al-Mashtal area."

23 October 2024 :

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council on October 23, 2024 reported that two ISIS members were sentenced to death.
The first ISIS member was sentenced to death twice by the Dhi Qar Criminal Court for killing two Iraqi army soldiers in 2014.
“The criminal, a member of ISIS terrorist entity, kidnapped and killed two officers working in the Ministry of Defense, one is a lieutenant colonel, the other a lieutenant, in Al-Hamdaniya district of Nineveh province,” the Council's media center said.
"The sentences were issued in accordance with the provisions of Article 2/1/3/5/8 and in reference to Article 4/1 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005," it added.
In a separate statement, the Judicial Council announced that the Central Criminal Court in Rusafa had sentenced a convicted ISIS member to death for kiling a member of the Federal Police.
“The verdict was issued based on the provisions of Article 4/1 and the evidence of Article 2/1, 3 and 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005,” the Judicial Council revealed.
In 2014, ISIS seized control of extensive areas in Iraq and Syria, with its leader at the time, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate that spanned territories inhabited by millions of people. The caliphate was declared in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in the city of Mosul, the center of Nineveh province.
The organization committed massacres against minority religions and sects in Nineveh province, confiscated their property, enslaved their women.
Despite its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIS remains a significant threat in Iraq, employing insurgency tactics and targeting security forces. The group has adapted by forming small, elusive units that operate in remote and rugged terrain.

21 October 2024 :

Iraqi judges have handed down death sentences and life sentences to ten members of the Islamic State (IS) arrested in Nineveh province, Agenzia Nova reported on October 18, 2024, citing the Interior Ministry.
“Judicial authorities have handed down severe sentences (execution and life sentences) to ten terrorists arrested by our agency in Nineveh province, after the individuals confessed to their affiliation with IS,” the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency of the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The agency said the suspects were involved in “multiple terrorist attacks” during the rise of IS in Iraq in 2014, “including the killing of members of the security forces and innocent civilians.”
IS took control of swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014 and was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but small cells continue to carry out attacks in several provinces across Iraq.

28 September 2024 :

Iraqi authorities have hanged at least 21 people, including a woman, most of them convicted over “terrorism” charges, three security sources said on September 25, 2024.
It was reportedly the highest number of executions reported in one day in years in Iraq, which has previously come under fire over its trial processes and the use of capital punishment on a mass scale.
“Twenty-one convicts including a woman were executed” on charges including “terrorism” and being part of the Islamic State jihadist group, an Iraqi security official told AFP.
“The woman was part of a group who killed a person” in 2019 as anti-government protesters demonstrated elsewhere in Baghdad, the source said.
A young man accused of firing shots was killed and his body hanged from a pole.
The same security source said they were executed in Al-Hut prison in the southeastern city of Nassiriya. Two other sources said they were all Iraqi nationals.
A medical source in Dhi Qar province, of which Nassiriya is the capital, said the forensic department had received the bodies of the executed convicts from the prison authority.
It was not immediately possible to confirm when the executions took place, with some sources saying Sept 24 and others Sept 25.
Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of “terrorism”, in trials rights groups have denounced as hasty.
In July, authorities hanged 10 “terror” convicts in Nassiriya, prompting a rights group to call for an end to the death penalty.
And in May, eight people were executed after being convicted on similar charges, while another 11 people were hanged earlier that month.
In late January, UN experts looking into the issue expressed “deep concern at reports that Iraq has begun mass executions in its prison system”.
The independent experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on its behalf, mentioned in their statement executions carried out late last year in the Nassiriya prison.
The statement said that “13 male Iraqi prisoners — previously sentenced to death –- were executed on 25 December 2023”, calling it “the largest number of convicted prisoners reportedly executed by the Iraqi authorities in one day” since November 16, 2020, when 20 were executed.
At the end of July, Iraq’s Justice Minister Khaled Shuani dismissed the UN experts’ analysis as “not based on documented evidence”, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

08 August 2024 :

Three Pakistani youths have been sentenced to death by a local court in Iraq on charges of terrorism and robbery, propakistani.pk reported on August 5, 2024.
According to details, a three-judge bench of Iraq’s Rasafa Court handed down the death penalty to the three Pakistanis on terrorism charges.
The convicted Pakistanis are Umar Farooq, Haider Ali, and Shoaib Akhtar. They were found guilty in two separate cases and sentenced to death.
Sources indicate that Umar Farooq, Haider Ali, and Shoaib Akhtar were sentenced under anti-terrorism laws. Shoaib Akhtar received the death penalty for forming a terrorist group in Iraq, shooting at complainant Shahab Kazim Hassan, and robbing his shop.
The same ruling mentioned another case in which the court sentenced the accused to death for killing Officer Hayman Karim Ahmed.
Iraqi media reports allege that a Pakistani citizen was involved in shooting at Iraqi citizens in a crowd, resulting in the death of patrolling officer Hayman Karim.
According to the verdict, the convicts have the right to appeal the decision in the federal court within 30 days of the ruling, which was announced on July 31.
The three youths come from different cities in Pakistan: Haider Ali is from Sargodha, while Umar Farooq is from Gujranwala. They had gone to Iraq for work.

23 July 2024 :

Iraqi authorities on July 22, 2024 hanged 10 people convicted of "terrorism", security and health sources said.
Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life imprisonment sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of "terrorism", in trials rights groups have denounced as hasty.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A health official said 10 Iraqis "convicted of terrorism crimes and of being members of the Islamic State group were executed by hanging" at Al-Hut prison in the southern city of Nasiriyah.
A security source confirmed the executions.
All those executed were Iraqi nationals, said the security official.
They were hanged under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law and the health department had received their bodies, the health official told AFP.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means "the whale", because Iraqis believe those jailed there never walk out alive.
Iraq has been criticised for the trials, with the "terrorism" offence carrying the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
Rights groups have also warned that confessions were sometimes believed to have been obtained under torture.
On May 31, Iraq executed eight people convicted of "terrorism", the third such group put to death in the country in little over a month.
Eleven people were hanged on April 22 and another such group on May 6, security and health sources said.

11 July 2024 :

An Iraqi court on July 10, 2024 sentenced the widow of former longtime Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to death for enslaving kidnapped Yazidi women, state media reported. 
“The terrorist enslaved Yazidi women in her home, and they were kidnapped by ISIS terrorist gangs in Sinjar district in western Nineveh province,” state media said, citing a Supreme Judicial Council statement. 
The court ruling was issued in accordance with Article Four of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism law of 2005, the statement said. According to the article, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offense is given a death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism. 
Known as Asma Mohammed, she was arrested in Turkey in 2018 and sent back to Iraq in February. In an interview with the BBC last month, she painted herself as a “victim who tried to escape from her husband” and denied that she was involved in ISIS’s brutal activities. 
However, at least two Yazidi women had filed lawsuits against Mohammed for complicity in the kidnapping and enslavement of Yazidis. They called for the death penalty. 
“She was responsible for everything. She made the selections – this one to serve her, that one to serve her husband … and my sister was one of those girls,” Soad, a Yazidi victim who was enslaved, raped, and sold by ISIS, told BBC. 
Five years ago, longtime ISIS leader al-Baghdadi was killed in a US special forces raid in northwest Syria’s Idlib province. Baghdadi died detonating a suicide vest after being cornered in a tunnel with three of his children. 
ISIS rose to power and swept through vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014 but was declared devoid of territorial control in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Remnants of the jihadists continue to pose security risks in parts of northern Iraq that are disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 
In Syria, the militants continue to launch deadly attacks from the desert, which stretches from Damascus to the Iraqi border. 
Minority groups, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shabaks, suffered extensively under ISIS rule. Among the group’s crimes are “executions, torture, amputations, ethno-sectarian attacks, rape, and sexual slavery imposed on women and girls,” according to the United Nations. 
The Yazidis were subjected to countless atrocities including sexual slavery, forced marriages, and genocide when ISIS took over their heartland of Sinjar (Shingal) in Nineveh province in 2014, as many of their villages of towns were razed and thousands were forced to flee to displacement camps across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. 
More than 6,000 Yazidis were abducted by ISIS, and around 2,700 remain missing. 
The majority of captives are held in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) notorious al-Hol camp, according to KRG officials. The camp is infamously branded a breeding ground for terrorism, a “ticking time bomb,” and a facility where ISIS sleeper cells maintain very strong influence and frequently carry out killings. 

10 July 2024 :

An Iraqi court on July 9, 2024 handed a death sentence to a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) member in Salahaddin province, state media reported. 
“The terrorist participated with other convicts in kidnapping and killing two citizens, supplying terrorist cells with food, and attacking the Iraqi army in the village of Awinat,” state media said, citing a Supreme Judicial Council statement. 
The ruling was based on Article Four of the Counter-Terrorism Law of 2005, the court said. 
According to Article Four of the 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offense is given a death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism.

02 June 2024 :

Iraq executed eight people convicted of "terrorism", a security source and health official said on May 31, 2024, the third such group put to death in the country in little over a month.
Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of "terrorism", in trials that rights groups have denounced as hasty.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A security source said eight Iraqis "convicted of terrorism and of being members of the Islamic State group were executed by hanging" on May 30 at Al-Hut prison in the city of Nasiriyah "under the supervision of a justice ministry team".
They were hanged "under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law", the source told AFP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
A medical source said the health department had received the bodies of eight executed people.
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means "the whale", because Iraqis believe that those jailed there never walk out alive.
"That these executions continue to take place is a clear signal from Iraqi authorities that all calls for halting them are falling on deaf ears," said Amnesty International's Iraq researcher Razaw Salihy.
She said executions were happening "despite evidence of years of unfair trials and human rights violations" that landed men on death row.
On May 6, Iraq hanged 11 people convicted of "terrorism", security and health sources told AFP. It was the second such group put to death since April 22.

28 May 2024 :

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council announced on May 28, 2024 the execution of three ISIS fighters.
The individuals had confessed to being members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and participating in various terrorist acts against security forces, including car bombings and attempts to kidnap and release imprisoned ISIS fighters.
The council confirmed that the criminal court had provided the necessary documentation to issue and carry out the executions.
This marks the second execution of ISIS members in Iraq this month. On May 6, 11 ISIS members were executed in al-Hoot prison (also known as Nasiriyah Central Prison) in Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar province.

07 May 2024 :

Iraqi authorities on May 6, 2024 executed by hanging 11 people convicted of “terrorism”, security and health sources told AFP, the second such group put to death since late April.
A security official confirmed on condition of anonymity that the executions took place at Al-Hut prison in the southern city of Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar province, where 11 other people likewise convicted of “terrorism” were executed last month.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
The execution on April 22 of 11 people convicted of “terrorism” sparked concern among rights groups, with Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency”.
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means “the whale”, because Iraqis believe that those jailed there never walk out alive.
The security official said the 11 executed on April 6 had been convicted in line with Article 4 of Iraq’s anti-terrorism law.
A health official in Dhi Qar said his department received 11 bodies of men to be handed over to their next of kin, and that all of them were Iraqi nationals.
But the security official and the health official were unable to say on what specific charges the 11 had been executed.
It was also not clear if they had been convicted -- like the previous group last month -- on the basis of their affiliation to ISIS or Al-Qaeda.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in a “terrorist group”, an offense that carries the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.

27 April 2024 :

Iraqi authorities have executed at least 11 people convicted of "terrorism" this week, security and health sources said April 24, 2024, with rights group Amnesty International condemning an "alarming lack of transparency".
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A security source in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province told AFP that 11 "terrorists from the Islamic State group" were executed by hanging at a prison in the city of Nasiriyah, "under the supervision of a justice ministry team".
A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of 11 executed people.
They were hanged on April 22 "under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law", the source added, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
All 11 were from Salahaddin province and the bodies of seven had been returned to their families, the medical official said.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in "a terrorist group", an offence that carries the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
Iraq has been criticised for trials denounced by rights groups as hasty, with confessions sometimes said to have been obtained under torture.
Amnesty in a statement on April 24 condemned the latest hangings for "overly broad and vague terrorism charges".
It said a total of 13 men were executed on April 22, including 11 who had been "convicted on the basis of their affiliation to the so-called Islamic State armed group".
The two others, arrested in 2008, "were convicted of terrorism-related offences under the Penal Code after a grossly unfair trial", Amnesty said citing their lawyer.
The Britain-based rights group denounced "a disturbing lack of transparency regarding executions in Iraq in recent months".
"The Iraqi government must immediately establish an official moratorium on executions and work towards abolishing the death penalty entirely," said Razaw Salihy, Iraq researcher at Amnesty.
In late January, UN experts looking into capital punishment in Iraq expressed their "deep concern at reports that Iraq has begun mass executions in its prison system".
The independent experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on its behalf, mentioned in their statement executions carried out late last year in the same Nasiriyah prison.
The statement said that "13 male Iraqi prisoners -- previously sentenced to death –- were executed on 25 December 2023", calling it "the largest number of convicted prisoners reportedly executed by the Iraqi authorities in one day" since November 16, 2020, when 20 were executed.
The IS group overran large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, proclaiming its "caliphate" and launching a reign of terror.
It was defeated in Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition, and in 2019 lost the last territory it held in Syria to US-backed Kurdish forces.
But its remnants continue to carry out deadly hit-and-run attacks and ambushes, particularly from remote areas and desert hideouts.

22 April 2024 :

The Central Criminal Court under the Iraqi Judiciary Council on April 22, 2024 handed a death sentence to two individuals linked to ISIS.
The Council's Media Center stated that the convicted individuals were "actively involved in ISIS's financial, administrative, and combat operations."
Notably, ISIS controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria at its peak in 2014. Though it was beaten back in both countries, the terrorists continue to wage insurgent attacks.
Despite the 2017 defeat, ISIS remnants still pose a threat in Iraq by attacking the security forces and civilians.
The terrorists concentrate in remote areas amid security vacuums between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, such as Kirkuk, where joint military operations are regularly conducted.
The group is estimated to have 5,000 to 7,000 members and supporters spread between Syria and Iraq, roughly half of them fighters, a U.N. report said.
Late last year, the organization announced it had appointed a previously unknown figure - Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi - as its leader after the previous leader was killed.

14 March 2024 :

The Iraqi judiciary on March 12, 2024 sentenced a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) murderer in Anbar province to death, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) reported.
The PMF’s investigations and preventive security directorate announced that its forces had arrested a suspected ISIS security member in Anbar’s Fallujah city. The individual is accused of having been specialized in “assassinating officers and security members, and preparing car bombs,” during the militant group’s control over the province.
The suspect was handed the death sentence in accordance with Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law, the PMF statement added.
Article 4 of the 2005 Iraqi anti-terrorism law states that anyone who participates in committing a “terrorist act,” as defined by the law, shall be sentenced to death, with life imprisonment sentences being handed out to those found guilty of intentionally concealing a “terrorist act” or harboring a perpetrator of such act.

27 February 2024 :

The Supreme Judicial Council stated on February 26, 2024 that a terrorist had been given the death penalty for setting off a car bomb close to the Prophet Ayyub 's shrine. They also mentioned that drug dealers had received a life sentence from the Basra Criminal Court.
"A terrorist was sentenced to death by the Dhi Qar Criminal Court for setting off a car bomb close to the Prophet Ayyub shrine in Hilla city," the SJC said in a statement obtained by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
In 2011, two cars belonging to the courts of appeal of Babil and Qadisiyah suffered damage from an explosion that resulted in the deaths of eight citizens and the injuries of fifty others. The statement further stated that the verdict was rendered in accordance with Article II/1/3/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005.
According to the statement, "two life sentences were handed down against two individuals found guilty of the crime of trafficking in narcotics by the Basra Criminal Court."

30 July 2024 :

An Iraqi court in Baghdad sentenced a person to death on July 29, 2024 for killing a Dhi Qar counterterrorism official earlier this year.
Brigadier General Aziz Shalal Jahl, head of intelligence at Dhi Qar’s counterterrorism directorate, was killed while attempting to resolve a tribal dispute in March.
"The convict shot the victim while he [Jahl] was performing his work as an officer in the Ministry of Interior, which led to his death in Dhi Qar province/Islah district,” read a statement from the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council on July 29.
The Karkh criminal court issued the sentence in accordance with the provisions of the 1969 Iraqi penal code.
Dhi Qar Governor Murtadha al-Ibrahimi expressed sadness at the time of the killing, saying that he had phone calls with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari, during which the Iraqi premier stressed the need to take all necessary “legal and judicial” measures against the perpetrators.
Tribal disputes in Iraq are one of the major challenges facing Sudani’s cabinet, as repeated clashes across the country's southern and central provinces have resulted in many casualties.
Dhi Qar is among the provinces most affected by tribal clashes and altercations, at times requiring army intervention.

19 February 2024 :

A Sulaimani court on February 18, 2024 sentenced a man to death for burning his wife alive nearly two years ago, overturning a previous ruling which had sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The 21-year-old mother of two, Shnyar Hunar, was burnt alive by her husband in February 2022. She died after spending five days in the hospital with serious burns. The husband was arrested shortly after the incident.
The court sentenced the man to life in prison in June 2023. Dissatisfied with the verdict, Shnyar’s family decided to appeal the decision at the court of cassation, saying that the perpetrator needs to be sentenced to death instead.
“The Sulaimani criminal court authenticated and followed the court of cassation’s ruling and imposed the death penalty on Hunar Rashid, who was accused and is now convicted of killing his wife in a brutal manner by burning her,” Awder Ali, the lawyer representing the victim’s family, told reporters during a presser.
Article 406 of the Iraqi Penal Code stipulates the death sentence for any person found guilty of willfully killing another “if the offender uses brutal methods in the commission of the offence.”
Hunar’s killing sparked strong reactions across the Kurdistan Region, with President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani calling for an end to the so called “honor” killings, and ensuring their commitment to hold perpetrators of femicide accountable.
The Kurdistan Region suffers from high rates of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, domestic violence, so-called honor violence, child marriages, and female genital mutilation.
At least 30 women were killed the Kurdistan Region in 2023, according to the Region’s Combatting Violence against Women Directorate. In 2022, the Region reported its highest femicide rate in years, with at least 44 women killed.
Femicides in the Region are often linked with the terms “social dispute” and “honor killings,” that perpetrators use to justify murdering their mothers, sisters, daughters, or wives.

14 October 2024 :

The human rights organization "AFAD" on October 12, 2024 issued a statement, condemning mass executions by Iraqi authorities, including elderly inmates and some carried out in "horrific" ways, holding President Abdul Latif Rashid responsible.
In a report, AFAD, which monitors the humanitarian and human rights situation in Iraq, revealed that the country carried out one of its largest mass executions since 2003, with at least 50 prisoners hanged at Nasiriyah Central Prison in September.
AFAD's investigation found that the prison conducted four mass executions that month, the largest on the 24th, when 21 inmates were taken from their cells at dawn and hanged in groups of six, sometimes amid sectarian insults.
The report also highlighted that “President Rashid signed the execution orders under political pressure from sectarian and armed factions in Baghdad, despite evidence of prisoners being tortured and coerced into confessions.”
Most of the executed were from Saladin, Diyala, Al-Anbar, Baghdad, Nineveh, and Babil governorates, with some of the sentences dating back to Nouri al-Maliki’s government, known for its “retaliatory and sectarian approach.”
AFAD noted that one of those executed was 68 years old and had endured various forms of torture.
Prison staff reportedly use psychological torture, sometimes taking inmates for mock executions, leading to fainting and hunger strikes, an inhumane practice not seen anywhere else in the world.
The human rights organization held President Rashid accountable for what it called “a massacre,” which claimed the lives of at least 50 prisoners, ignoring calls to investigate torture-based confessions.
Rashid's presidency has been marked by dozens of executions, despite international and local human rights organizations' warnings about innocent individuals.
In this context, AFAD urged international organizations to oppose Iraq’s secret executions, accusing authorities of “exploiting regional and global events to carry out death sentences that have not reached final approval or been backed by credible evidence.”

17 June 2024 :

At least 63 people have been executed in Nasiriyah Central Prison in recent weeks alone. Human rights groups accuse the judiciary and executive authorities of abusing detainees and coercing them into making false confessions to justify the imposition of the death penalty.
Human rights organizations claim that in Iraq, the death penalty is driven by sectarian and political factors, resulting in the execution of mostly Sunni individuals.
In May, the UN envoy expressed concern over the mass executions carried out under anti-terrorism laws.
In April, Amnesty International researcher Razaw Salihi expressed concerns about the recent executions in Iraq. Salihi stated that these executions pose a significant danger and highlighted the involvement of the judicial system in human rights violations. According to her, the Iraqi government should take immediate action to abolish the death penalty.
Naif Shammari, a member of the Nineveh Provincial Council, suggested that a review of the investigation into ISIS detainees is necessary.
Shammari added that the majority of the detainees were arrested on the basis of inaccurate information.